Pile fabric with permanently set hard twist wool yarn



May 30, 1950 R. J. JACKSON 2,509,350

FILE FABRIC WITH PERMANENTLY SET HARD TWIST WOOL YARN Original Filed Oct. 9, 194a INVENTOR. ROBERT J efncmso/v BY QTTOR VE 7 Patented May 30, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Robert J. Jackson, Hazardville, Conm, assignor to Bigelow-Sanford Carpet 00., Inc., Thompsonville, Conn., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application October 9, 1946, Serial No. 702,105. Divided and this application March 2, 1949, Serial No. 79,320

My invention relates to a pile fabric having a hard twist wool yarn pile, adapted for use as a floor covering, carpet or rug. Its principal object is to provide a fabric having an improved pebbly textured pile surface. Another object is to produce such pile yarn fabrics in which the twist in the tuft legs is permanently set, i. e., resistant to wetting, as in washing and shampooing.

When wool yarn, twisted and prepared as heretofore, is woven as warp into pile over the pile wires in a pile wire loom (Tapestry or Jacquard) and the pile loops are 'cut, the legs of the tuft tend to untwist and straighten out so that the desired pebbly textured finish is not fully obtained. Wool yarn has been treated in various ways in attempts to prevent or minimize this untwisting of the pile when cut but not with complete success especially with yarns dyed in the darker shades. A serious defect is that when the fabric is wet, as with liquid spilled on it, or is washed or shampooed, the tuft legs further untwist so that the resilience and appearance of the fabric are seriously deteriorated.

My invention is most useful when applied to three-ply and two-ply yarns, although single yarns and yarns composed of as many as sevenplies may also be used. In the case of the preferred three-ply and two-ply yarns, the strands of yarns are given from two to five turns per inch. In twisting these single strands of yarn together, I put in from four to twelve turns per inch in forming the three-ply yarn and four to fifteen turns per inch in forming the two-ply yarn.

Thus I give the wool yarn an abnormally hard twist. I form the hard twisted yarn into loose skeins whereby the yarn, being free from tension, coils upon itself and forms kinks. I wet the skeins of kinked yarn and heat them with saturated steam at a pressure in the range between 5 and 40 pounds per square inch for a suitable time. Thereby the twists and kinks in the yarn are set. I then dry the yarn.

I thus obtain a hard twisted wool pile yarn having, when relaxed as in skein form, kinks at intervals and a permanent set resistant to untwisting and to twisting in either direction.

To prepare the yarn for use as the pile yarn of a floor covering, I wind it under tension on spools to straighten out the kinks while retaining in the yarn the strain which would cause the yarn to kink if the tension were released. I wind the yarn under tension on the warp beam of a wire loom and weave it while under tension over the wires of the loom. The withdrawal of the wires 1 Claim. (Cl. 139-391) cuts the pile loops. The legs of the cut tufts are sufliciently twisted and stiff to stand upright with occasional kinks. But they are not all at the same angle, so that the face of the fabric, which is formed by the pile ends, provides the desired pebbly and irregular appearance. The twist in'the tuft legs is permanently set in that it does not become untwisted when the pile is wet as in washing and shampooing.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a warpwise sectional view of my fabric showing the pile tufts in elevation, and,

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a length of my hard twisted wool pile yarn permanently set with kinks.

My preferred practice is as follows: The wool, with or without other fibers, is dyed in the raw stock, processed and spun into strands 2 (Fig. 2) in the usual way. The strands, which may have from two to five turns per inch, are then twisted abnormally, i. e. about 10 turns to the inch and reeled into skeins. The skeins are removed from the reels so that the yarn in skein or bulk form is free from tension. The twist in the yarn causes it to kink at intervals, as at 4, Figl 2. The kinked skeins are immersed in water, with or without a wetting agent, and, after centrifuging to remove excess water, they are subjected to saturated steam at about 250 F. for about thirty minutes in a closed chamber in which, by means of suitable check valves, the pressure is maintained at about 15 lbs. per square inch above atmospheric. The twist in the yarn is thereby set. The yarn is dried. It is wound under tension onto spools thereby straightening out the kinks, but retaining the twisting strain so that if the tension were relaxed the yarn would again kink.

To use the yarn as the pile warp in a wire loom the yarn, while still under tension, is wound on the warp beam of such a loom as is commonly employed in Tapestry or Jacquard pile fabric weaving. The pile yarns are maintained under tension in the weaving and in passing over the pile wires so that the yarn is not permitted to kink in spite of its strain to do so. The pile loops are cut by the knives on the wires as they are do not all stand at the same angle. Therebythe inch with a thirty minute exposure because at I that level the treatment would tend to lessen unduly the durability of the, yarn by oxidation.

I prefer to treat the dyed wool with acid to protect the wool from damage by oxidation during steaming and to preserve the color. This acid can be of the type commonly used in dyeing, for example, either mineral or organic acids or acid liberating compounds or mixtures. I prefer to use either acetic acid or sodium acid sulphate, the latter liberating 40 percent free sulphuric acid by weight when dissolved in water. These acids may be used in small quantities up to 20 percent by weight of the wool used. The

amount used depends upon several factors; such as the color change permissible, the allowable oxidation on the wool, the previous fixation of the dyestufi, i. e. whether it has been exhausted from the dye bath or applied as a stain, and the amount of undyed wool present.

Rugs and carpets of my invention having permanent highly twisted cut pile have many advantages over fabrics formerly made from twisted yarn, including improved texture efiect, very few, if any, untwisted tuft legs, an increased lustre giving a pearly appearance to the surface of the rug or carpet and a set permanent to wetting and shampooing.

The present application is a division of my prior application, Serial No. 702,105, filed October 9, 1946, in which the method of making the rugs and carpets claimed herein is claimed. My novel yarn is claimed in my application Serial No. 82,495, filed March 19, 1949 and the process of making it in my application Serial No. 767,850 filed August 9, 1947.

I claim:

A pile floor covering having a pile face at least a portion of which is formed of cut pile comprising upright tuft legs of hard twisted wool yarn having a hard twist permanently set with kinks, said legs being at randomly angularly disposed relation to one another, having occasional nonuniform bends therein and presenting an uneven pile surface consisting of irregularly disposed tuft leg ends, and having an irregular pebbly appearance.

ROBERT J. JACKSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS electric Heating by Batsel. Pages 139, 141, 216, 220 and 224.

American Wool Handbook, 1st edition, 1938, page 448. 

